Norwalk forum: Flexibility urged for workforce

By CHRIS BOSAKHour Staff Writer

Published 3:01 pm, Thursday, March 6, 2014

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Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Dr. Juline Mills, Chair the College of Business, Department of Hospitality and Tourism, The University of New Haven, during the second of Workplace Inc.'s Workforce Forum Series, Retail and Hospitality, at the Hilton Garden Inn Thursday morning.

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann Dr. Juline Mills, Chair the College of Business, Department of Hospitality and Tourism, The University of New Haven, during the second of Workplace Inc.'s Workforce Forum Series,

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann The second of Workplace Inc.'s Workforce Forum Series, Retail and Hospitality, featured a panel including Dorothy Dobkowski, Team Member Services/ Recruiting for Whole Foods, at the Hilton Garden Inn Thursday morning.

Hour photo / Erik Trautmann The second of Workplace Inc.'s Workforce Forum Series, Retail and Hospitality, featured a panel including Dorothy Dobkowski, Team Member Services/ Recruiting for Whole Foods, at the

NORWALK -- Advice for job seekers and the people responsible for hiring those job seekers flowed freely at The WorkPlace's Workforce Trends in Today's Economy event held Thursday morning at Hilton Garden Inn.

David Lewis, president and founder of Norwalk-based human resources firm Operations Inc., was the keynote speaker and urged employers to stop trying to find perfectly round or square pegs for their positions.

"Focus your attention on screening based on core skills, not whether it's a round peg," he said. "Employers need to make a system work for them rather than worry about the pegs fitting perfectly."

He said state programs are available to help employers train new hires to make them fit.

Lewis added that employee referrals are still the best way to find candidates.

The forum, the second of four, focused on the retail/hospitality industry. The event also included a panel moderated by Tony Aitoro, COO of Aitoro Appliance. The panel included: Dorothy Dobkowski of Whole Foods; Tom Failla of Norwalk Community College; Ginny Kozlowski of Connecticut Lodging Association; Juline Mills of University of New Haven and Traci Spero of Macy's.

The forums are a sort of information-gathering system that will lead to a broader view of the region's workforce trends later this year, according to Joseph M. Carbone, president and CEO of The WorkPlace. The first forum, which focused on financial services, was held in Stamford last month. The next two forums will be on March 27 in Bridgeport, focusing on health care, and April 17 in Shelton, focusing on manufacturing.

"We're getting a consensus," Carbone said.

For the job seeker, Lewis said the front door is rarely the best way to get noticed. Instead, look for "every way possible" to submit a resume to people other than the gatekeeper.

"If you can, find a way to use the side door, the back door, or the trap door. Any door but the front door," he said.

He also urged job seekers to post their resumes online and "get over the privacy concerns."

"Have a strategy, be persistent and be patient," Lewis said.

In terms of labor trends in the area, Lewis has noticed a "troubling" scenario in that no industry has emerged as a major growth factor such as technology did in the 1990s or financial services did in the mid 2000s. Another negative trend for the area he has noticed is New York City companies moving to Brooklyn instead of Fairfield County, which was the area of choice for defecting NYC companies not long ago.

During the panelist discussion, Kozlowski encouraged employers to participate in summer job programs such as the ones coordinated by The WorkPlace or individual municipalities.

The panelists also had advice for job seekers. Dobkowski said to stay positive during the interview and do not blame others or make excuses for why you may have been let go from a previous position.

"If you're negative during the interview, you'll be seen as a complainer, not a problem solver," she said.

Mills added: "The first thing I look for is drive. Be excited about the business. And always smile with your eyes and not your teeth. It comes across as fake that way and customers don't like fake."

Spero said the employment trend for retail are jobs focused on technology and the psychology of the customer. Technology is important as retail stores put a stronger emphasis on Internet sales.

"We also need people to be the eyes and ears of customers," she said. "What they want and how they want it."

Failla, the director of hospitality management and culinary art at NCC, said the job trends for chefs and cooks are relatively flat, but positive for food service managers.

"People who can bring in customers and keep the team together and motivated," he said.